Learning to ride w/ exceptional balance.

[Weaves]

Hi! I'm 30min in learning to ride the mten3. I have a lot of experience in balancing from skiing competitively.

For how confident I am, I do one-leg weighted pistol squats on a bosu ball on leg day and one-leg squats drunk as a party trick. 

I keep on trying to self balance. When the EUC goes forward, I Immediately counter balance backwards.
When I try and turn I shift my hips to remain centered.

Both cause the wheel to go out of control, while I remain stable.

Does anyone have tips for reducing muscle memory/letting myself go off balance?  Thank You. 

[techyiam]

I have absolutely no experience in this regard. 

A shot in the dark suggestion would be to try pushing a shopping cart, or a baby stroller of some sort with some weight in it, etc, while you are on your wheel. 

With a specific purpose in mind, I wonder if that would be enough to trick the brain to let your body go unbalanced in a controlled manner forward and backward.

[Cerbera]

1 hour ago, Weaves said:

Does anyone have tips for reducing muscle memory/letting myself go off balance? 

Presuming you have already developed the mindset that you are on a wheel now, and not skiing, your brain should be able to learn a new set of moves and override previous instincts on a 'per context' basis. I know this is true because I can play piano and organ, which require markedly different playing techniques.

You just have to consciously focus on inputting clear, constant, even instruction to the wheel, which you do with a mostly straight body (slight bend in knees OK) and actively counter any objection muscle memory gives you. Do not lean from the waist.

So, fix your eyes forward on a distant target, lean forward, slowly, from the ankles, with a straight body, until you get to just above walking speed, and then simply remain there, committing to that level of straight lean, and trusting the wheel to roll forward under you. Do not even consider the possibility that it might not, and there is nothing to correct for. It should only be a couple of hours before you are able to resist any lingering urge to counter this by moving your hips (no), or overall bodyweight (yes) backwards, until you want to stop.

Now, before everyone else fires a load of cannon shot at me for suggesting the aforementioned 'planking technique', and how that is not ultimately how we are trying to ride (I am fully aware that 'free and loose and easy' is the way to go once we know what we're doing) but the bending from the ankles with a straight body IS, I maintain, the best way to communicate slowly, predictably and evenly with the wheel, and is an easy posture to focus on and maintain.

Edited May 24, 2023 by Cerbera

[rcgldr]

9 hours ago, Weaves said:

Does anyone have tips for reducing muscle memory/letting myself go off balance?

Lean forwards to accelerate, lean backwards to brake. Other than momentary transitions, you won't be out of balance.

There are two ways to steer an EUC: twisting it or tilting it. Twisting is used for slow speeds, and extending arms will help with balance at slow speed. If riding in a straight line, at sufficient speed, an EUC will become self-stable | self-correcting, and you won't have to make balance corrections. On an Mten3, my guess is this occurs around 5 mph.

Learning to turn well will take a bit longer, since you need to separate how much to tilt the EUC versus how much to lean. At slow speed, the EUC is tilted more than a rider leans,  while at higher speed, the EUC is tilted less than the rider leans. One drill I did was to lean a bit, then tilt my EUC into direction of lean enough to straighten me back upright. I would alternate left and right, doing a weaving pattern while riding in a straight line.

[EUCzero]

Hmm

I know many say the Mten4 (or 3) is a good beginner wheel. I do not agree. It is so small there is much less stability than a "normal" size wheel.

But anyway. Here are som tips I find useful when I teach others to ride:

1 Speed..... Get up to speed ASAP. By speed I mean jogging speed or minimum very fast walking speed. Like skiing. Turning (carving) when standing still or walking speed is very hard. You MUST get up to riding speed quick, and keep it. Holding hand with a friend jogging nect to you has been the key for many of my friend to learn within 15minutes. But the must jog.... not walk slowly.

2. Trust. Trust that the wheel will keep you up while leaning forward. Just be ready for the forward fall and go for it. And after a while your brain understand that you do not fall forward (hehehe... unless you lean very hard).

3. Allow the turn. If you start falling a little bit sideways, do not fight it. Let the wheel make a light turn (or harder) and you will be up in balance again (but in a new direction). Allow it to change direction when you loose balance. You will soon be able to turn back. So practice in a place where you are allowed to make turns in ANY direction. Parking lots or similar.

4. Flat grass. Grass is way mor difficult to ride on. BUT... your brain will not make to that afraid of doing mistakes. And your EUC will not get damaged that easy. So start on flat, short, smooth grass if you fint any (again bigger wheel would be better. Mten not the best on grass/off road).

5. Something other to lean on. As getting up to speed fast is vital, some support in the beginning helts a lot. A baby stroller (without the baby in it  , a shopping cart, a long wall, a fence. Anything making it easier to mount and gat up to riding speed fast will help.

6. When you feel comfortable riding more than 100m and some small turns.... challenge yourself by riding knees out, not touching the EUC upper part, only using the pedals for support. 
Also try to wiggle or wobble the EUC fast side to side between your legs while riding. This makes your balance better, more relaxed, legs will hurt less, and you will be ready for high speed wobbles or brake wobbles later on.

Edited May 25, 2023 by EUCzero

[Weaves]

On 5/25/2023 at 3:27 AM, rcgldr said:

There are two ways to steer an EUC: twisting it or tilting it. Twisting is used for slow speeds, and extending arms will help with balance at slow speed. If riding in a straight line, at sufficient speed, an EUC will become self-stable | self-correcting, and you won't have to make balance corrections. On an Mten3, my guess is this occurs around 5 mph.

The idea of twisting at low speeds helped so much! Taking out the side to side leaning and keeping my ankles locked was key.

[Weaves]

On 5/25/2023 at 5:10 AM, EUCzero said:

4. Flat grass. Grass is way mor difficult to ride on. BUT... your brain will not make to that afraid of doing mistakes. And your EUC will not get damaged that easy. So start on flat, short, smooth grass if you fint any (again bigger wheel would be better. Mten not the best on grass/off road).

 

On 5/25/2023 at 5:10 AM, EUCzero said:

1 Speed..... Get up to speed ASAP. By speed I mean jogging speed or minimum very fast walking speed. Like skiing. Turning (carving) when standing still or walking speed is very hard. You MUST get up to riding speed quick, and keep it. Holding hand with a friend jogging nect to you has been the key for many of my friend to learn within 15minutes. But the must jog.... not walk slowly.

Between these two ideas I found out something surprising.  The wheel didn't have any pressure!  It turns out the mten3 I have is the tubeless variant. I thought that it had pressure from how stiff the tire is, and when going at slow speeds it seemed pretty normal. But when I increased the speeds and went on grass, the tire was slipping on the rim. I was still balanced, but this is what was causing the wheel to go out of control! 

If you didn't suggest going on grass, I wouldn't have found out the issue so quick! TYSM. I will have to take some time to get the tire properly seated and pressured before I try again.

[woke rider]

Your tire should seat itself if you pump it up vigorously or with a compressor. I suggest learning with a walker or park paralell bars.

Edited May 27, 2023 by earthtwin
typo